03x13 - 1960s Hanging Chair

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to the Repair Shop,

where cherished family heirlooms
are brought back to life.

This is the workshop of dreams.

Home to furniture restorer
Jay Blades.

Nowadays everybody
spends a fortune on stuff

that once it's broken
they just bin it.

But everybody has something that
means too much to be thrown away.

And that's where we come in.

Working alongside Jay

will be some of the country's
leading craftspeople.

Every piece has its own story.

It's amazing to think that
some of my work becomes part

of that story.

I've always played with things.
I've always repaired things.

And I just love it.

There is a real pleasure in bringing
people's pieces back to life again.

Each with their own
unique set of skills.

I can't wait to get started.

They will resurrect...

..revive...

..and rejuvenate...

..treasured possessions

and irreplaceable pieces
of family history.

Wow!

Bringing both the objects...

She's fantastic! That's just
taken me back 50 years.

..and the memories that they hold...

SHE GASPS
Oh, yes!

..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In the Repair Shop today,
an unlikely visitor

in the shape of a Roman deity.

So it takes two of you
to fix Hercules?

Cor blimey. I thought you guys were
stronger than this guy.

What's going on? This is
a really, really, really clever fix.

And the upholstery gods
are smiling on Susie and Sonnaz.

Ooh, look at that!

That was lucky.

End of the bobbin.

First through the doors
of the Repair Shop

is Jane Maddy from Lincolnshire
with an unusual package.

Hi there. Please come over.

She's hoping
furniture restorer Will Kirk

will cast his expert eye
over its contents.

What's in the box?
It's a smoker's stand.

A smoker's stand.

I don't think we've actually
ever had a smoker's stand in before.

So what can you tell me about this?

It's always been around.
It belonged to my grandparents.

My grandfather's,
he always smoked a pipe.

I've got memories of it with
pipes all the way along there

right from being little.

It seems to be in pretty good
condition apart from

obviously the missing leg, which
you say is in here. It's there.

What are these pieces here?
Just bits that fit in the top.

I presume that's for...

I presume it's where
they tap their tobacco.

Gosh. It's very fancy.

Are you a pipe smoker yourself?

Not recently! No, I can't say
I have ever smoked a pipe.

And I think that one was for
matches. Matches, probably, yeah.

And then that's
your little striking plate.

How clever. To strike matches on.

I actually smoked a pipe
for a year when I was at art school.

Did you? I thought it was trendy.

It probably wasn't very trendy.

But yeah, I definitely
didn't have anything like this.

So you inherited this from your
grandfather. He died many years ago.

I was brought up by my grandparents.

He was a cobbler.
I've got great memories

of being in the shop
from very young

and just stood watching my grandad.

Well, it seemed like hours
at the time, just mending the shoes.

Was he smoking a pipe whilst
mending them?

I think he did do, yes, yes.

It's probably one
of the only reminders I've got

of my grandparents.

I know it's
only a little thing, but to me

it absolutely means the world,
so I'd like it really fixed

so that I can have it
on display in my house again.

I will do everything I can.

That would be wonderful.

Well, I'll let you know
how we get on. Brilliant.

It's really nice to meet you.

Thank you very much.
Thank you for coming in.

I'm quite nervous about leaving my
grandfather's smoking stand behind.

The stand has a lot of nice memories
for me.

Memories of my grandad sat there,
puffing on his pipe.

And the smell of tobacco
brings that back as well.

And my grandma busily probably
Hoovering round it and polishing it,

and telling him off
for smoking too much.

How are we doing, Will?

This is Jane's smoking stand, eh?

If I had a pipe right now,
I'd be resting my pipe

upon the top. Well, not literally,

but in these holes here.

So it's missing a leg.
Oh, you've got the leg.

I have the leg here.
So the leg's broken off.

Well, the wood's broken off
underneath,

and then the leg's popped out.

So I need to patch that wood
back in and glue that back in.

So what about these bits here?
They're missing as well.

I didn't even notice that.

Are they...? That's brass.
That could actually be brass.

Is it? Do you think so?
Yeah, I think so. Maybe.

Oh, this is loose as well. Right.

Well, that's another thing
on my list. Sorry.

And then a general clean and a wax.

Yeah. But not going to clean out
that, are we? No.

Cos that's her grandfather's
tobacco.

Yeah. No, we've got that in there.

So once you've done this, what you
should do is just take it over

to Steve, see if he can make those.

I'm sure he's going
to help you out with that.

Have a good one. Cheers, Jay.

Next to arrive at the workshop -
Carl Sebastian and his dad Jeff.

They've brought with them a piece
of classic '60s furniture

for the attention
of master saddle maker

and leather expert Suzie Fletcher.

Hi, I'm Suzie. I'm Jeff.
Nice to meet you, Jeff.

Carl. Nice to meet you.
Carl, nice to meet you too.

My word, what is this?

It's a leaf chair.

I've never seen anything like it,
it's just from my nan's house.

So this belongs to your nan?

Yeah, it used to. We call her Nonna.
Nonna? Yeah, she's Italian.

When my grandad passed away,

she was downsizing and she didn't
have enough room to put it

in her new house,

so she called me straightaway,

since I know how much she loved
the chair, and she gave it to me.

So this belonged to your nan. Yeah.

So, was Nonna into
the swinging '60s? I'd say so.

Yeah, she's pretty cool.

This was set up
by the record player.

Right.

So Tony, Carl's grandad,

used to lie in here
and listen to the music.

Every time I went to my nan's house,
yeah, from a baby,

I'd always...everyone would race
to sit in the chair. Oh, really?

Could more than one of you
sit in it?

Yeah, yeah, we could.
We used to pretend it's a boat.

So what does it feel like to sit in?

Lovely. Amazing, yeah.
It is? You'd fall asleep in it.

Oh, really?

So how exactly did it
end up in this state?

Well, basically, Carl,
his sisters and his cousins,

they all used to sit
in the chair.

And then it got to a stage
where this is getting tighter

and tighter and brittle

and Carl's cousin sat on it one day,

and it just split,
it just gave way.

That's after all the kids
had been sitting on it. Wow.

Well, we'll have to see
what I can do here.

But looking at this grain here,

I believe this is buffalo hide.

OK. Very, very strong
and it has a very prominent grain.

So my plan is to use as close
to the original leather

as possible.

Thank you so much, Carl,
for bringing it in

and putting your trust in me.

Thank you. And I can't wait to get
started. So we'll be in touch.

We'll leave it with you.
Looking forward to it. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye. Bye.

Yeah, it would mean a lot
to have it repaired.

Thinking back,
the way it used to be,

seeing the kids playing
on the chair.

It's always been, like, a feature

in the sitting room. You know,
it'd be good to,

once it's repaired,
to be able to use it

and, yeah,
make the most of it again

and probably bring back the memories
I had as a child in the chair.

Based on the shape of a leaf,

the chair's design dates back
to 1967 and was originally available

in other fabrics as well as leather.

Hanging chairs reached the peak
of their popularity

in the swinging '60s,

but this leaf chair
is still highly collectible.

So now I've got a chance to look
at this leaf chair that Carl left

with me, and...

..I am scratching my head
a little bit.

I'm concerned because it has
many angles to it...

..which create this overall shape
that literally just cradles

the body when it's lying in there,

and...

..I've never done anything
like this before. So, uh,

perhaps, Sonnaz,
if you're available,

could I ask you to come and have
a look at this for me, please? Sure.

Sonnaz Nooranvary is an expert
in furniture restoration,

both traditional and modern. So you
can see how badly damaged this is.

Wow. And... It's had a lot of use,
hasn't it?

My quandary is making a pattern...
Yep. ..for this that...

..it creates this bowl shape.

I think that we need to make
a pattern somehow.

It might be a good idea...

..to maybe use calico?

Calico is just a really...

..cheap fabric, like a cotton.

So, we make three patterns. Yeah.

Stick them together. Yeah.

Offer them up to the frame
to see where we're at. Yep.

Perfect. OK, sounds like a plan.

So I just need to take this
leather off, then.

Do you need any help with that
or...? Yeah, that'd be great. OK.

Over in the carpentry corner,
Will is getting to grips

with the legless smoker's stand.

Before patching the base
with a new piece of wood,

he's first cutting away
any damaged timber.

Sometimes when working on a piece
like this, it can be really hard

to know how much wood to remove.

There's always the risk of going
too far, taking out more wood

than you need to.

It has to be structurally sound,

so I think I've gone
to the right level here.

It's not a bad fit, actually.

It doesn't look flush with the
surface now, but once that's dried,

then I can chisel and plane it down
nice and smooth.

That's nice and flush now.

I'm now going to drill out a new
hole for the leg to go back in.

So I'm just trying to work out

the direction of the leg.

I'll make sure I drill it out
the first time...

..spot on.

That feels like a tight fit.
Even without the glue,

I am that certain that's going
to be strong enough to hold it,

I'm actually going to turn it round
now.

Perfect!
I'm really pleased with that.

Now the smoker's stand stands again.

Back on three legs,

it's time for Will to call in
a favour from clockmaker Steve.

Steve... What on earth is that?

That, my friend, is a pipe stand.

A pipe stand? Yeah.

How many pipes could you get
in that? Ten pipes.

For the pipe enthusiast. Right, OK.

There's some brass rings on the top,
here.

And I seem to be missing
one, two, three of them.

Is there any way that
you can make up three more?

Does that come off?

I don't think...

Well, now!
WILL LAUGHS

Well done. That was easy. Yeah.

I think it would be a nice touch

because Jane won't be expecting
that.

It'll be like a nice sort of...
Oh, right, OK. ..finishing touch.

Yeah. So I'll leave you with that.

I'll get on to polishing this.
And let me know when you're ready.

Thanks, Steve.

Many of the items that arrive
at the Repair Shop are treasured

family pieces passed on
from one generation to the next.

But others have meaning
to a wider community.

Liz Argent from
the Westbury Heritage Society

in Wiltshire

has a heavenly body in need
of some emergency surgery.

Hello, I'm Steve.

Hello, I'm Liz. Hello.
Hi, Liz, I'm Matthew.

Hello, nice to meet you.

Liz has brought in a 30-kilo
cast-iron statue

of the Roman god Hercules

to test the strength of Steve and
metal conservator Matt Boultwood.

What a wonderful statue this is.
Thank you.

Thank you. Tell me about it.

He's about 160 years old.

And he was in one of the mills
in our town.

Westbury's got a tradition
of cloth-making

going back, oh, 500 years or so.

So it's an important industry
in the town.

Why Hercules?

Well, he's a symbol of strength

and he was on a beam engine,

which is a very powerful machine.

It powered the whole mill.

He was standing on the front
of this huge cylinder,

but it was quite
an interesting setting.

It looked like a classical Greek
or Roman temple because there were

pillars on either side
and a pediment above it all.

But when the mill converted
to mains electricity,

Hercules lost his place
of honour in the factory.

He was destined for the scrap yard
until, in 1969, he was rescued

by factory worker Jack Ingram.

Eventually, he made his way
through various owners in the town.

He came to
the Westbury Heritage Society

in the end, about 25 years ago.

And he had an accident,
and he lost his club.

Oh, right, that's what
he's supposed to be holding.

That's what's missing,
yes, yeah, yes.

Shall I have a look at the...?

So what actually happened?

Somebody was trying to move him,

and it toppled over,
and his club came off.

So he's actually fractured
at that join, here. Yes, yeah.

Is that easy to repair?

Um, cast iron is notoriously
difficult to weld.

But I can see here there's actually
like a mechanical fixing,

which we can take a look at,

to separate and see
how best to repair it.

I mean, you can weld it,

but you will disturb the finish,
the patina. Yes.

Which is something we'd have to be
quite careful of.

When Matt has worked his magic
on this statue,

what is the plan?

Oh, we'll put him back on display
in the Heritage Centre.

He's got a plinth that he normally
stands on, but he's one of our main

exhibits because he represents
the industrial heritage of the town.

Right, OK. So I guess
it's over to you, Matt.

Yeah, we'll see what we can do. OK.

Thank you, Liz, for bringing him in.
Leave it with us.

Thank you very much.
OK. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Nice to meet you.
Bye now. Bye-bye.

I'm really hopeful that Hercules
will soon be repaired

and back in Westbury.

He's been broken for ten years now,
and it's also the 25th anniversary

of the founding of
the Westbury Heritage Society,

so to have Hercules

put back together again
would be a great achievement

this year.

So,

how are you going to fix this?

Are you going to weld this up?

I think, as it's got such a lovely
patina to it,

I'm probably going to try

and avoid using any hot welding
or anything that would disturb this.

There's so much weight
in the piece of club,

glue is just not going to
be able to hold it.

But if we put another pin and
then use that as a Roman joint

to hold it together,
we should be able to make

a nice, almost invisible repair.

A Roman joint?

Roman joints were used a lot
on bronze sculptures,

where you wanted to join two parts

or two separate castings together.

It brings them together and
clamps the pieces. Oh, excellent.

Yeah. Love that. That's fantastic.

Let's get it all over to your bench,
and you can get cracking.

Do you want to pick that up
and give me a hand with this?

Give you a hand. Yeah. It's quite
heavy. Cor, it is, isn't it?

It really is heavy.

There we go.

Here we go.

Suzie and Sonnaz have joined
forces to repair and restore

the classic 1960s leaf chair.

Their biggest challenge is
to recreate the fitted leather seat.

First, they've created
a template from calico.

Now, Suzie is going to see if it
will fit the frame of the chair.

How you doing, Suzie? Hello.

You look a bit stuck there, girl.
You all right? Yeah, well.. Yes.

It's a little bit of a challenge
because I'm trying

to suspend my calico pattern

for the leaf chair...

OK. ..on to the frame, and I started
off with the tape on the calico,

and it keeps sticking to me.

So I've put all the little pieces
all the way around, ready to...

Oh, so this tape is to be stuck
on there. Yes, yes. OK.

And this one needs to...
If you could... Stick on there?

What, go round? Yeah, just
down a little bit. Just down.

There we go, super. Yep.

And now I'm just going to go
around the curve here and here.

So if you'd like to maybe
do that side. OK.

So this is to see
whether the pattern fits, then,

that you've created. Yeah.

Now, this seams...
It doesn't want to be tight.

So you want that like that,
stuck on there? Brilliant.

Yes.

You've done a good job there.

It's working out.

My famous last words!
The kiss of death there, huh?

So, Sonnaz, have we got this right,
then?

Have you seen this?

Oh, she's going to come over.
Oh, yes.

She's going to inspect our work.

Stand by your bunks. It's awesome.

Is that cool? Yeah, really cool.
I'm liking this. Remember?

We were worried
about how this was going to lay.

Yeah, no, that looks great,
doesn't it? Yeah.

I'm really relieved.
I'm pleasantly surprised.

That seam is perfect,
cos that's where your lowest

point of weight is going to sit,
cos your bum's going to be there.

Yep, yep, yep. Yeah. Yeah, fabulous.
So there's going to be eyelets

all the way up here? Yeah.
How's it going to be attached?

We're not using tape, are we?
We're going to go a little bit
hi-tech, aren't we?

Well, we're thinking
maybe it might be...

Might be string? Elastic bands?

Yeah. So it'll be leather belting
going all the way around. OK.

Which is Suzie's department. Cool.

I like the sound of that. Yeah.

But, no, that looks awesome.
Yeah. I'm really happy with it.

Confident the calico test sample
has been a success,

Suzie can now go hell for leather
with the real thing.

This is a full-grain hide,

which means
this is the strongest part,

the top layer of the hide.

And I want to make sure

any area or any seam
that's going to take a great deal

of stress, we maximise

those tougher areas of the hide.

I'm really very confident that
this is going to look quite lovely

when I'm finished.

Will has recruited Steve to help

with the brass work
on the smoker's stand.

Before replacing the missing
pipe rings,

he's giving the old ones

a bit of a polish.

I think it was obviously
very, very well used

once upon a time.

Someone very proud
of their pipe smoking, I think.

The smell of old smoke
when I'm doing this is incredible.

Just put the final touches on.

For the new rings to fit perfectly
and to match the old ones,

Steve has no room for error.

13. I think that'll be all right.
I'll give that a whirl.

So I'm going to turn this out
of the solid bar.

It does seem a very large piece
of brass to be...

..turning just for
those three pieces,

but it's the only way I can do it.

I'm almost there.

Right, that should be deep enough
for...

..three of those units.

But all Steve's efforts
will be wasted

if Will doesn't get the woodwork
finished on time.

So I've actually taken this back off
of Steve's bench, glued it back on.

So I've just finished polishing
everything else. I'm just now

going to polish
this last piece here.

And hopefully, then Steve be ready
with the brass hoops, but this

is going out the door very soon,

and I'm starting to get
quite worried about the time.

I keep checking - the last thing
I want to do is turn it too small.

It's very frustrating
when you do that.

So now that the polish is dried,
I don't want this to look blingy,

so I'm just using
the soft wire wool to take that...

..the edge off that shine.

I don't want it to like
it's been dipped in honey.

HE CHUCKLES

The next process is I've got
to shape the front of this

and make it rounded,
like the original inserts.

Good, that's done. So...

That's how they came off
the lathe. That's how they

turned up. And hopefully,
they'll slip in nicely.

On the other side of the workshop,

the statue of Hercules
is testing the mettle

of conservator Matt.

This is quite nerve-racking
cos I do only get one go to get

this hole in the right place.

His plan to reattach
Hercules' broken club

relies entirely on Matt drilling
through the 160-year-old iron

in exactly the right place.

Nice clean hole through there.

Now, the trick with this kind
of joint is that we actually want

the hole in the structure inside
to be slightly out of line,

so that when you hammer a pin
through it, it clamps the two pieces

together. I just need to drill
through here slightly lower,

so that when the pin goes through,
it gives it a nice firm fit.

This offset fixing is known
in the trade as a Roman joint.

The technique is believed
to have first been used

by ancient Roman craftsmen.

Just biting on that last bit.

And we're through.

Moment of truth.

And that is almost perfect.

You can just see half of the edge
of the hole inside,

so when the pin goes through, that
should clamp that up quite nicely.

Right, Matt, how are you getting on?

Not too bad.

Just cutting the pin off

that will make the final joint
for the club.

This is the Roman joint, is it?

This is the Roman joint.

I love learning about things
like that.

I'm going to use that in things
that I make as well.

That's fantastic.

So it takes two of you to fix
Hercules, yeah?

THEY LAUGH

Cor, blimey. I thought you guys were
stronger than this guy. No, no.

This is a really, really,
really clever fix.

So there's nothing
I could do to this?

You could put the pin in
if you want. I could do the honours?

You could.
Can I just ask a question?

Is there any danger in it
splitting the cast iron?

Because if you're pulling it in,

if the holes are out of line
too much,

it would then crack it, wouldn't it?
That is a possibility.

So we've just got to hope
that we've...

..got the right preparation.
Now you tell me!

Just put a little bit of pressure
on me, haven't you?

I'm just saying that this
isn't plain sailing, this is

a very skilful job. If it really
doesn't go, stop. OK.

Cos then we could pull it back out.
Yeah.

Careful. Yeah, yeah, I am watching.

Can I just...? Can I just...?

Is that all right? I'm actually
seeing. I'm just checking.

It is a little bit...
Off? Off, yeah.

So what we could do
is knock it back out, yeah?

One of them. OK.

There we are. Thanks, Steve.

A quick job with a file
should sort that out.

Have you got the pin? Course I have.

Yep.

It's going.

It's come through. There we are.

And you can see it coming out
at, like, an angle.

We've actually sort of used the pin
as a spring almost

to pull the two bits together.
Pull them together.

That's incredible. What are you
trying to do, break it?

No, no. It's not coming off.

What you're going to do is
chop off the ends. Yeah,

we'll cut those down
and then darken them up.

OK. Oh, well done.
So you don't see it. Yeah.

I look forward to seeing that.
No, well done. It's nice.

Thank you.

With Jane due back any moment,

Will is finishing the repairs
to the smoker's stand.

He's just waiting for Steve
to give him a ring. Or three.

Hopefully,

by the time I've buffed this up,

if Steve has finished
the brass rings,

he'll be putting those finishing
touches, the cherry on the top,

and we can hand it back to Jane.

Here they are. Yes!
I'll push those in.

They look absolutely amazing, Steve.

Would you like to tuck them in?

Go on, Steve.

I'll hold it to make sure it
doesn't move. Ready? Yeah.

Oh.

Ow. OK...

This is broken.

How did you manage to do that?

WILL LAUGHS

Don't start, Steve, please.

Take that out, I'll turn it off

while you glue it. There you go.

It's really annoying.

HE LAUGHS

I didn't take into account

the fact that the grain of the wood
is running this way.

So this is actually going to be
quite a weak point here.

So we've been tapping it too hard,

and it's broken.

Steve's gone back over to his bench.

He's making the brass hoops
slightly narrower

so they'll fit a lot better.

And in the meantime,
I've got to find some glue.

They'll probably be too loose now.

Hopefully,
that's the right size now.

So I'm using a really speedy glue.

Are you having to hold it?
Yeah, I'm having to hold it,

clamp it with my hands.
Can I put the one in here?

I'll put this one in, Steve, cos I
don't trust you to touch anything.

Not on this... OK! I know.
STEVE LAUGHS

There you go. Good.

If you want something done right
the first time...

Stop it. ..don't ask Steve.

THEY LAUGH
No, I'm joking.

With the family heirloom

finally back in one piece,

it's almost time to hand it
back to owner Jane.

Really, the smoker's stand,
in essence, it's just wood.

But to me,
it's a lot more than just wood.

It was always there.

It was something that your
grandparents had actually touched

and used.

So to me,
it's not just piece of wood,

it's a piece of my childhood.

Hello. Hello.
Nice to see you again.

And you, yes.

So...
HE CHUCKLES

It's a bit of a giveaway, the fact
that it's standing upright.

Yes. Shall we take a look?

Yes, please.

Oh, wow.

That is fantastic.

It looks absolutely wonderful.

Thank you so much.

It's beautiful.

I'm speechless. Thank you so much.

I don't think it's ever looked good.

Never.

So if I show you the top,

turned out that you're actually
missing three

of the brass hoops here.

Oh, right! And our in-house wizard,
Steve,

was able to make some new ones.

And the leg, look at the bottom.
Yep.

You can't even see where it was,
cos there was a big hole

and a gap there. Yeah.
You're a genius.

It brings back some lovely,
lovely memories.

It really does.

And over the last week, when I've
been thinking about them,

those memories have been rolling
down my face a little bit.

Really? Yeah, yeah.

So how do you think your grandfather
would feel if he could see it

on its three legs now? He would be
amazed, absolutely amazed.

And he'd probably have it filled
with pipes already.

THEY LAUGH

It's over to you to treasure
for many more years to come.

And I will do. Thank you so much.

Thanks for coming down. Thank you.

Thanks, bye-bye. Bye-bye.

During the last week, I've been
thinking about the smoker's stand.

And it made me quite emotional
and quite tearful at times.

I can't believe
how beautiful it looks.

And I think both my grandma
and grandad would be really proud

that it looks like it does now
and that it's been mended.

Suzie is making headway
with the leather-work

for the leaf chair.

The seams are sewn, the excess
leather has been trimmed.

Now she's calling on the upholstery
skills of Sonnaz

to help piece together
the three separate sections.

So... This is the exciting bit. Yes.

I'm actually going to start sewing
from here because this section

is far too thick... Right.
..for this machine to go through.

OK. So I'll finish it off by hand.
OK.

This width of the foot here

is what I'm going to line up
to the turn. Yep.

So as I'm going along,
I'm just going to keep pulling it.

OK. And if you feel like
I'm pulling too much,

just tell me, "Stop." OK.
Safe word - stop. OK.

Cool. LAUGHS: OK.

So this is the face stitch,
which is -

just before you start -

the most crucial stitch.

It's going to help form the spine.

Yeah. But also it's very visible.

So the goal is to...

..to make sure it looks
really beautiful,

and I'm going to go
really, really slow. OK.

Every stitch counts, doesn't it?

Yeah, I think we'll just go
in incremental stages, and then...

..reposition... Every now and then.

That line looks amazing.
Does it? Yeah.

Cos you can see it, I can't.
No, you keep going.

It looks great.

That's why I need your eyes. Yeah.

Great! Yes! All right.

Shall I pull it?
Let's pull this puppy up. Yep.

Oh, look at that! Oh!

That was lucky.

End of the bobbin.

I could have swore... How lucky
was that? That was a full bobbin

that I had on. That's so lucky.

Could you imagine if that was
somewhere in the middle?

Tears. No, I would have been
quite upset. Absolutely.

That's upholstery gods watching.
Thank God. Yeah.

Now Hercules has been reunited
with his broken club,

Matt is striving to make the join
as seamless as possible.

So we've cut the pins off

flat with the surface,
so that they're a nice snug fit.

So I've just got to file back
the last of the raised surface

so it's really nice and flush
with the original,

and then I have a

patinating solution that will darken
the surface and hopefully make

those heads invisible.

Patinating solution is a mix of
phosphoric and tannic acids

which act on shiny new metal
to give it an aged appearance.

It starts off white,
but it dries purply black.

Should match in
with the rest of Hercules.

It's changing colour already.
It works really quickly.

And once we've got some wax
over that,

it should be a really nice repair.

I mean, you've still got some
of the evidence of the damage,

but that's part
of the object's history.

Should be good
for another 150 years now.

Looking good.
Are you finished?

Yeah, done.

Cracking job.

The break was so perfect,
it just got back together.

Brilliant.

Buffed to perfection,

all that remains is to return
Hercules to the Wiltshire community,

where Heritage Society secretary Liz
is awaiting the finished result.

Oh, we wanted to get Hercules
restored because he's the only thing

left of the beam engine
from Bitham Mill.

It will be a reminder for the people
of Westbury of the legacy

of the cloth mills in the town.

I'm really looking forward to
seeing what he looks like.

Hello. Are you all right?
Good morning.

Word has spread about
the strong man's restoration,

and a crowd is gathering
to witness his return.

Among them is Sue Robinson,
the daughter of former factory

employee Jack Ingram.

My father started working
at the mill in 1936.

He was the maintenance engineer.

After Laverton's closed down
in 1969,

he rescued Hercules because I
think he was going to go for scrap.

He'd be thrilled to bits that,

you know, that he was being
properly looked after.

Right, let's see what he looks like.

Oh, there he is. Oh, wow!

You can't see where it was
broken, can you? No.

You can't see a join at all.

Oh, fantastic job.

Good as new. Back to one piece now.

Isn't that...? That is really good.

Well done.

Great!

What do you think, Sue?

I think he's brilliant.
He's absolutely amazing. Yeah.

I think we were a little bit
concerned how the repair

would actually look.

But he's as good as new,
and we're really pleased about that.

He looks absolutely brilliant.

I'm really, really pleased.

I can come look at him at any time,

and be reminded
of my dad.

Well, to have Hercules back,
repaired, is really wonderful.

It gives us a lovely...

..piece of art to display
in the Heritage Centre.

And now that he's back,

we're going to have to look after
him very carefully. Absolutely.

Back at the workshop,

Suzie and Sonnaz have carefully cut
out the challenging leather pattern

for the leaf chair

and are moulding it into shape.

Now Suzie needs to punch
holes into the leather

so it can be attached
to the metal frame.

I've turned the leather over
and marked the spots where I need

to punch holes for the lacing that's
actually going to hold the leather

on to the frame of the chair.

It is at a point like this,
as with any item

that we're working on, that you've
put so much into checking,

triple checking, quadruple checking
that everything's right,

that if you slip up
at this stage of the game,

that would be a disaster.

So here goes.

And there's the hole.

So now I'm going to put
some of the eyelets in.

And what I have is this cylinder,

and this sits into this little
channel here,

and then we push down
the leather around that eyelet

so that the tip of this tool
goes down, in there.

As I hit it, it's going
to flange the male part

of that eyelet around that disc
that I just put on there.

And there we have the eyelet.

I think that looks rather beautiful,
and that's

going to be all the way around.

It's just really going to

highlight the whole style
of this chair.

That's three done.
I've got about 97 more to do.

So I'd better get on with it.

Dozens of holes and many metres
of leather lacing later,

the end is finally in sight.

Just tidy off the ends and...

..I think we're finished.

This tattered and torn 50-year-old
chair had been idle and empty

for the last decade.

Today, its original owner Matilda,
Nonna as she's known to her family,

has come to the Repair Shop with
son-in-law Jeff and grandson Carl

to collect their treasured
design classic.

Hello. Oh, my...

Come on in. It's lovely to see you.
Come in, Come in.

So, it's been a little while since
you've been without your chair.

JEFF: Yeah, it has. Yes.

And, Nonna, you were
the original owner of the chair.

Yeah, I was.

What attracted you to the chair?

Well, it was unusual,
something we'd never seen.

We used to go to Wales
nearly every week,

and we saw it and we thought,
"Oh, we'll have that."

But then our house was full
of unusual things.

Was it? Oh, really? Oh, yeah.

And so, Carl, how much have you
missed this chair? Quite a bit.

I haven't been able to use it
for the last ten years,

so I'm looking forward
to seeing how it looks.

Yeah, I'm excited to see what it
looks like,

if it looks like it was before.

OK. We ready? Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Oh, it's gorgeous. Look at that.

Oh, it's beautiful, it's lovely.
What do you think, Nonna?

It's absolutely beautiful.

It's so nice.

Oh, love the leather. It's
really nice. It's really nice.

I'm sorry I can't have it
in my house!

THEY LAUGH

I'm pleased that you have it
and you enjoy it. Thanks, Nonna.

Yeah, that's really nice.
Yeah, it's beautiful.

Do you want to sit in it, Nonna?

Oh, yeah. I don't know
whether I can get there.

There you are. It's like the
old days. Oh, it's wonderful.

Yeah. It's lovely, really nice.

Is it comfy? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

It's very comfy.
I can stay here now!

Does it remind you of sitting in it
all those...? Oh, yeah, yeah.

In fact, it looks nicer
than I thought it would.

Oh, well done! Great news!

I didn't know, I
was a bit apprehensive.

I thought it can't look
as nice as it was before.

Yeah, of course. But it's very nice.

You've done really a good job.

I'm really very impressed.
Thank you very much.

It's beautiful.
I hope you enjoy it. I will.

I know we did.

Well, it was...

..it was a wonderful, wonderful
chair to work on.

It's in my heart forever now.

I'm glad you enjoyed making it
as well. I did.

I really, really did.

Yeah, I learned a lot.

It's really lovely.
Thank you, Nonna.

Yeah, I'm really, really pleased
with the way it looks.

Can't wait to get in it.

A lot better than I expected
as well.

Well, I don't know.
I didn't expect anything,

I just wait and see what it looks
like, but it's beautiful.

Beautifully done,
and I'm glad it's like that.

I hope it will serve you.
A good thing for many years!

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Take care of it! I will. Yeah.

Join us next time
in the Repair Shop

as the doors open
to more cherished items...

Gosh, that's just amazing.

..for the team to rescue
and bring back to life.